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How to join Help a Reporter Out (HARO) | Quick-Start Guide 2022

content marketing online business tips
drmichaela michaela bucchianeri health and wellness copy coach how to join Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

 

Want to use HARO for high-quality backlinks and social proof to market your private practice or wellness business? In this post, I'm sharing 3 HARO tips to help you create an account FAST and start identifying your right-fit media requests!

 

Table of Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. VIDEO: How to join Help a Reporter Out (HARO) | Quick-Start Guide 2022
  3. STEP 1:  Create a basic account
  4. STEP 2:  Select your preferences
  5. STEP 3: Start reviewing media requests
  6. Workshop invite! πŸŽ‰
  7. Recommended resources
  8. Let's take action
  9. Share this post 

 

INTRO:

Hi, I'm Michaela Bucchianeri psychologist turned copy coach, and I help you bring more of your in-person magic to your online presence, attracting dream clients and customers with words that connect. If that sounds good to you, please subscribe for new information each week.

“Help A Reporter Out” is a powerful way to build genuine social proof for your business, help get you and your message in front of new audiences and drive lots of targeted traffic back to your website. You do need to be signed up to use it. So here is what you need to do in three easy steps.

 

VIDEO: How to join Help A Reporter Out (HARO) | Quick-Start Guide 2022

 

 

STEP #1:  Create a basic account


Let's get you signed up for Help a Reporter Out. Please go to Helpareporter.com. Once you're on the homepage, you'll see a source for every story and two options. You can sign up as a member of the media or as a source. You'll choose “I'm a source”. From here, you'll be shown the rules for sources. It's really worth taking the time to read through these carefully.

Help a Reporter Out is a free tool, but they are quite strict about these guidelines. So, make sure that you're clear on everything so that you don't accidentally violate one of them and get yourself kicked out. Once you've taken the time to read everything, scroll up, and sign up.

This will bring you to the signup page for their basic subscription package. It's completely free and it's all you need to get in there and use this service. Go ahead and enter your information.

Now, a quick note about email here. Whatever you input for your contact email on this form, that's the address that the roundup of media requests will be sent to.

It's also the email address that's going to be associated with your account inside the platform. I generally recommend using whichever email address is associated with your business domain.

Input all the rest of the information and you will create a password after that. Just confirm your non-robot status and then click to sign up.

Once you do that, you should see this message confirming that your signup is successful. They will prompt you to go check your email inbox for a confirmation email. Go to your inbox and check for this email.


 

STEP 2:  Select your preferences


Once you've clicked the link in your email to confirm your basic account. The next step is to log in on the Help a Reporter Out site and select your preferences. Once you do that, you should see you're selected as a source. That's the type of account you have. Then if you scroll down, they'll usually prepopulate some of your information into the form here, but you can go ahead and fill in anything else you can, select your time zone and your location information.

Go ahead and skip the section that says reporter details and go down to the preferences section.

By default, you should be subscribed to the master HARO list. What this is going to do is send you a Roundup three times a day, every weekday with media requests organized by each of the main categories. That includes high tech, general, travel, business, finance, lifestyle and fitness, and so on.

Especially when you're just starting out. I recommend staying subscribed to the master list because this is going to quickly orient you to the breadth of different types of media requests that are sent out through this service. You always have the option to refine your preferences later. You can actually do that from inside every email that HARO sends out. For example, you might decide that most of the pitches that are most relevant to you tend to fall under the lifestyle and fitness category. In that case, it might make sense to refine your preferences so that you're only sent those pitches.

But again, just starting out, I highly recommend you stay subscribed to the master list as this is going to give you a big picture idea of what's out there. Then click save and update. And once that's done, you're all set to start reviewing media requests.


 

STEP 3: Start reviewing media requests


Now in their Terms of Service, HARO states, that emails go out three times a day, Monday through Friday at 5:00 AM, 12:35 PM, and 5:35 PM. Eastern. Until this becomes a habit for you, I recommend setting yourself some reminders so that you can be on the lookout for those emails when they come through.

Now that you're all signed up, Help a Reporter Out is free for you to use whenever you're ready, but to get the best return on your time and effort, it's wise to have a solid strategy to follow as you're using it.

 

Workshop invite! πŸŽ‰


I would love to help you with that. You are most welcome to join me for my workshop on using Help a Reporter Out to build genuine social proof for your business and reach new audiences with this tool.

You'll learn how to save time and streamline your efforts by identifying the right fit media requests, to respond to. I'll share a simple template for structuring your media pitches so they stand out and increase the likelihood of being selected. You'll learn sustainable headache-free habits to help you squeeze every drop of value out of each media feature you get. You’ll learn best practices and tips for cultivating relationships with members of the media. That way you stay top of mind in the future.

Plus, I'll be answering your questions live during the workshop. So, sign up here, and I can't wait for you to join us! 


Recommended resources 

Want to explore more ways to build genuine social proof? Check out these blog posts:

                                                 

Let's take action! 

Ready to implement what you learned in this post? I like your style!

  1. Sign up for HARO and review a few media requests and maybe even submit 1.
  2. Curious about the Workshop I talked about in this post? Join the HARO Workshop: https://www.drmichaela.com/haro-workshop
  3. Want more actionable tips + real-life examples to help you reach more of your dream clients? Subscribe to my email list!
     

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